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What are people using for USB C charger for Sonos Move?


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I asked this question over in the sonos reddit forum and others are having same issues so thought I would bring over here.

What are people using for their usb charger for the Sonos move? I attempted to use my MacBook pros charger but it didn’t work. I have the 60watt brick but from what I read it should be able to still work.

So then I read it might be the cord as they have chips in them and knowing Apple they locked their cord down. So I bought an anker power line 3.1 usb c cable and tried it with the MacBook brick again and it still didn’t work.

So before I keep buying and returning curious if anyone has had success with certain chargers with the move. Thanks!

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Best answer by Airgetlam 24 October 2019, 22:02

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Below are components I use to charge my Move.  1 and 2 via electrical outlet. 2 and 3 outdoors for power boost before the battery drains.

  1. Wall Plug
  2. USB-C Cable
  3. Portable Power Brick
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Great - thank you! Does it play music and charge at the same time with these? 

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Chargers that don’t work:

 

  1. Macbook Air / Macbook 12 - 29w and 30w chargers (genuine Apple)
  2. Macbook Pro 13 60W charger (Genuine Apple)
  3. Anker 30w PD-1 Atom charger
  4. Anker USB Type-C with Power Delivery 30W USB Wall Charger

  5. Anker Dual Port 49.5W Wall Charger, PowerPort II with Power Delivery for MacBook

  6. Anker PD USB-C battery - PowerCore 10000 PD

So in effect nothing I travel with. I now have a flat Sonos Move :-( 

 

Why does Sonos not allow a wider range of compatible chargers?!

I’m wondering how much time you’ve given these charger to work? I’m not sure (and I mean that literally) that Sonos knows/cares what kind of charger is connected, as long as it matches the minimum input voltage and amperage. It might be slower than their own charger, but I’d think electricity is electricity.

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You can tell if its charging in the Sonos app so you shouldn’t need anytime to test it if you are testing it at home connected to the wifi. This is how I know nothing I tried would work. It is super frustrating on a $400 speaker. 

I’m sure I read somewhere that USB-C charger for the 'Move' needs to output at any of these three levels: 12V/3A15V/3A, or 20V/2.25A. 

Presumably the last two will charge a little quicker at 45w.

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Below are components I use to charge my Move.  1 and 2 via electrical outlet. 2 and 3 outdoors for power boost before the battery drains.

  1. Wall Plug
  2. USB-C Cable
  3. Portable Power Brick

All

The products I provided links to work with the Move and match the output specs of the OEM Move charger.   Yes, when being used you can see the Move battery being charged either via electrical wall outlet or portable battery pack.  My apologies I forget to list the adapter that must be used with the Portable Power Brick when charging the Move. The link is below:

USB-C to USB-A adapter

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I’m wondering how much time you’ve given these charger to work? I’m not sure (and I mean that literally) that Sonos knows/cares what kind of charger is connected, as long as it matches the minimum input voltage and amperage. It might be slower than their own charger, but I’d think electricity is electricity.

Seriously? Let me explain that I tried each and every one of these devices here in this link - and not a single one charges the sonos AT ALL. So i’m afraid your “electricity is electricity” is a little too simplistic here. Clearly Sonos have decided that only “special” electricity is enough - which is exactly the opposite of the point of Power Delivery USB-C charging specs! 

 

I’m delighted you tried all of those devices. Did you confirm that those devices match the requirements, as suggested in Ken_Griffith’s post above?

How (and even why)  would Sonos block a charger from working, assuming it meets the electrical requirements? I’m not aware that there’s anything beyond voltage and amperage being carried here. Is there other data that I’m not aware of?

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I’m sure I read somewhere that USB-C charger for the 'Move' needs to output at any of these three levels: 12V/3A15V/3A, or 20V/2.25A. 

Presumably the last two will charge a little quicker at 45w.

Thanks for sharing everyone! These specs are correct from Ken.

 

The power adapter must be USB PD. For 45W operation the PD source must put out either 20V/2.25A (or higher current) or 15V/3A (or higher current). For 36W operation the PD source must put out 12V/3A or 15V/2.4A and charging speed is reduced if listening to audio at the same time. Anything less than 36W will not power or charge Move.
 

As a data point regarding Macbook chargers, I just tested this out with my Move and a Macbook charging cable and it was charging just fine. We’ve also tested several chargers in the office that worked out well too. The app shows charging within a few seconds of being plugged in, and the LED lights up on the unit indicating the charge is connected (for a few seconds).

 

This is with the USA power block with 110 connected, but it should still work for 220 with other regions.

 

One thing that we’ve seen with power ports that have multiple plugs is that the manufacturer may sum up the total of each of the outputs, so you could have a USB-C that supplies 30W and the USB-A that supplies 19.5W, but the box may market it as 49W. In this case, the Move would only be getting 30W, which wouldn’t be enough to charge it.

And, the other possibility is that your particular Move might be faulty. While unlikely, it seems very odd that all of those devices wouldn’t work. I’d love to know the various amperage and voltages for all of them, but I’d think at least one would match.

It might be worth collating that data and then calling Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

I suggest the phone folks, they have more tools available because they're on the phone with you, but they are only available Monday through Friday during business hours. Both the Twitter and Facebook support folks are available 24/7.

I’m in no way suggesting that you’re incorrect, or that you haven’t tried all of those various chargers. Just trying to figure out why one wouldn’t work. Ryan S from Sonos has indicated in other threads (and I’m too lazy to go look) that there’s nothing “special” about the Sonos charger itself.

 

OK, I was too lazy to include it in my last post, but then I went and found it in the introduction post, straight from Sonos,  here:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/introducing-sonos-move-brilliant-sound-anywhere-6829500

Specifically this:

Power and battery:
Move’s battery will last for up to 10 hours of uninterrupted playback. If left off the charging base and unused, Move will automatically go into suspend mode to reserve battery for up to 5 days. The battery is rechargeable with an included indoor charging base or with any USB-C charger with the following output levels: 12V/3A, 15V/3A, or 20V/2.25A. After about three years, or 900 charges, Move’s battery can easily be replaced so you can keep listening for years to come.

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I’m sure I read somewhere that USB-C charger for the 'Move' needs to output at any of these three levels: 12V/3A15V/3A, or 20V/2.25A. 

Presumably the last two will charge a little quicker at 45w.

Thanks for sharing everyone! These specs are correct from Ken.

 

The power adapter must be USB PD. For 45W operation the PD source must put out either 20V/2.25A (or higher current) or 15V/3A (or higher current). For 36W operation the PD source must put out 12V/3A or 15V/2.4A and charging speed is reduced if listening to audio at the same time. Anything less than 36W will not power or charge Move.
 

As a data point regarding Macbook chargers, I just tested this out with my Move and a Macbook charging cable and it was charging just fine. We’ve also tested several chargers in the office that worked out well too. The app shows charging within a few seconds of being plugged in, and the LED lights up on the unit indicating the charge is connected (for a few seconds).

 

This is with the USA power block with 110 connected, but it should still work for 220 with other regions.

 

One thing that we’ve seen with power ports that have multiple plugs is that the manufacturer may sum up the total of each of the outputs, so you could have a USB-C that supplies 30W and the USB-A that supplies 19.5W, but the box may market it as 49W. In this case, the Move would only be getting 30W, which wouldn’t be enough to charge it.

Thanks for this - I will try my macbook pro charger again when I get home tonight but I assure you it did not work before even though it shows 15v/3A on the power brick. I assume it being 61w doesn’t matter correct? The move would only draw the 45w max right? This all being said I did return my first Move because the battery life on it was not even close to 10 hours.  (3.5 hours on 75% volume, I realize the 10 hours is at 50% volume so I expected at least 5 hours at 75%).  Anyways maybe my unit had other faults too and so will try with my new one later. 

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Correct, no problem with the 61W on that connection. If you do run into any issues with a Macbook charger, you may have to unplug the whole charger from the wall and from the Move, then wait about a minute, and plug it back in on both sides. We’re looking into a specific issue here that has come up rarely in testing.

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Correct, no problem with the 61W on that connection. If you do run into any issues with a Macbook charger, you may have to unplug the whole charger from the wall and from the Move, then wait about a minute, and plug it back in on both sides. We’re looking into a specific issue here that has come up rarely in testing.

Thanks Ryan - I will also report back. Y’all are welcome to my diagnostic stuff too, if needed, I can send if that would help if it does not work. 

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Boo Hoo :disappointed_relieved: ...I feel so unappreciated. I posted the information regarding 3rd party charger requirements in this thread and over a month ago in the announcement post right here. That’s the last time I’ll do the heavy lifting if I’m just going to be ignored. Double Boo Hoo :disappointed_relieved::disappointed_relieved:   LOL 

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You had some excellent recommendations AjTrek1 :) Don’t feel left out!

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Boo Hoo :disappointed_relieved: ...I feel so unappreciated. I posted the information regarding 3rd party charger requirements in this thread and over a month ago in the announcement post right here. That’s the last time I’ll do the heavy lifting if I’m just going to be ignored. Double Boo Hoo :disappointed_relieved::disappointed_relieved:   LOL 

Sorry! Thank you for posting that - I was going to buy the charger actually but now that they are saying the Macbook charger should work I am going to try that again! Appreciate your help but if I can not carry any extra chargers around I would prefer that haha! 

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And, the other possibility is that your particular Move might be faulty. While unlikely, it seems very odd that all of those devices wouldn’t work. I’d love to know the various amperage and voltages for all of them, but I’d think at least one would match.

It might be worth collating that data and then calling Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

I suggest the phone folks, they have more tools available because they're on the phone with you, but they are only available Monday through Friday during business hours. Both the Twitter and Facebook support folks are available 24/7.

I’m in no way suggesting that you’re incorrect, or that you haven’t tried all of those various chargers. Just trying to figure out why one wouldn’t work. Ryan S from Sonos has indicated in other threads (and I’m too lazy to go look) that there’s nothing “special” about the Sonos charger itself.

 

Thanks guys. I will check out the specs but the majority of the wall chargers (forget the battery packs for now) are only giving out 30w on the USB-C - which I’d assume is NOT sufficient? I only had USB-C to USB-c on my travels (I only have either Macs or iPhones with me - so only need lightning/USB-C devices).

 

However the Mac 61w should work - so that’s odd.

I’ll re-check in the morning and see what comes out. Sadly the move went dead after a couple of days - so I couldn’t then use the app to see what else worked - as a dead Move won’t show in the bluetooth setup screen of course. The key point is though - none of them would re-charge it  :-(

Thanks for the replies and pointers.

 

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Correct, no problem with the 61W on that connection. If you do run into any issues with a Macbook charger, you may have to unplug the whole charger from the wall and from the Move, then wait about a minute, and plug it back in on both sides. We’re looking into a specific issue here that has come up rarely in testing.

@Ryan S I tried my MacBook charger again and no luck. Also tried an anker cable with it that also didn’t work.   Are you saying that you saw this during testing and looking at it? Just trying to decide what to do. Thanks 

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I’ve finished my testing of the 3rd party products below that I found suitable for use with the Sonos Move. 

Click each Numbered Item to view a picture and other pertinent information regarding each. Rather than refer to each item by name I’ll identify each by its respective number.

Disclaimer: None of the items listed are supported nor recommended by Sonos. They are presented solely by me for informational purposes only.     

  1. POWERADD 57W USB C Wall Charger with One Power Delivery 45W Port and 12W Ports
  2. Cable Matters USB C to USB C Charging Cable (USB C Charge Cable, USB C Power Cable, USB-C Charger Cable) with 100W Power Delivery in White 6.6 Feet
  3. Electop USB 3.1 Male to Type-C Female Adapter,USB A to USB C 3.1 GEN 2
  4. POWERADD PD 45W 26800mAh Portable Charger with 8-pin/USB C Inputs

Items 1 and 2 are used together to charge the Move when use of the charging Ring is not practical. They will charge the Move in the same manner as the Ring with no noticeable difference.  All Move functionality remains the same.

Items 2 and 3 are used together in order to make the connection via USB to item 4 to facilitate portable charging of the Move when no electrical outlet is available.

Using Items 2, 3 and 4 (and item 4 at 100% capacity) to charge the Moves internal battery to 100% from 22% remaining charge takes approximately 3.5 hours (per my testing).

The Move while connected to Item 4 functioned in the same manner as when on the charging Ring. It remained connected to Wi-Fi, Alexa voice assistant was present, operated in stereo pair (as I have two), was visible in the Sonos App as charging and showed battery strength progression.

Leaving one Move on item 4 and the other Move on it’s charging Ring showed no difference in behavior or appearance in the Sonos App.

All functions and/or limitations of the Move when using Item 4 and not connected to Wi-Fi were the same.

As of this moment I have no empirical data but I would guesstimate that one could expect at minimum  an additional hour of uninterrupted use of the Move if starting at 22% remaining battery charge. Longer extended use should be expected if charging is begun at 50% depletion of the Move’s internal battery.  

I hope this proves useful. Just some more Heavy Lifting done for you:relaxed:

Cheers!

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Posted here again by mistake. Sorry:hushed:  

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Thanks for the details list@AjTrek1

@Jake_11, do you know which MacBook charger you have? Are you sure it’s the 61W one? Also, are you using the standard cord that comes with it, or another cord? That issue I mentioned with the MacBook chargers was identified during the testing Move before it launched, and we’re currently still looking into the problem. For that particular issue, unplugging the cable on both ends for a few minutes should fix it until it gets into that state again. We don’t have an official USB-C PD charger at this time, and don’t have a specific list of recommended ones. We’ve seen a lot that will work, and really any that meet these requirements should work:
 

The power adapter must be USB-C PD. For 45W operation the PD source must put out either 20V/2.25A (or higher current) or 15V/3A (or higher current). For 36W operation the PD source must put out 12V/3A or 15V/2.4A and charging speed is reduced if listening to audio at the same time. Anything less than 36W will not power or charge Move.

 

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Hi @Ryan S  - here are the pictures of the charger. I used the original apple USB-C cable that came with it and I also tried an Anker one as well.  Neither would charge. I would be happy to work with your team on this if needed to try and diagnosis to fix. Feel free to have them reach out to me. I will attempt to charge it again tonight. But as you can see this charger has 15V/3A listed as an output so in theory it should be working. 

 

 

 

 

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Hi @Jake_11 

This is just a guess. The power adapter shows 61W output. I’m not positive but the Apple adapter may not be “Smart”. Meaning it’s pushing 61W and not downgrading itself to the 45W push required by the Move. Typically (I would suspect although I didn't design the Move) the Move should recognize that a higher wattage device is being used and only draw what it needs. This appears not to be the case with either the charger or the Move. 

Not trying to push you into spending money….but my post details the results with the products I use with my Move. I’m just saying….:slight_smile:

Cheers!

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